Chris Huffman's 'Welcome to the Minors' moment came just three weeks after he was drafted, in a town on the southern edge of Washington state.

After a five-hour bus ride from Eugene, Oregon, Huffman's first stop in short season Class A ball, the former Fort Defiance High School standout and James Madison University product came on in the eighth inning for the Eugene Emeralds with a 4-2 lead against the Tri-City Dusty Devils in Pasco, Washington.

Two outs into the frame, the scruffy-cheeked 22-year-old was headed for another quality outing. But then came the pitch that put him on his heels, a misplaced changeup, which led to a run being scored, the first of his professional career.

Frustrated and hoping for a quick fix — with two men on, mind you — Huffman left a 90-mile per hour fastball up in the zone on the next pitch.

"He made contact," Huffman said of David Bergin's bomb, "and it was out."

Since being drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 14th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft on June 7, Huffman has been given a quick tutorial on minor league baseball. He's had six appearances overall, some very good, and some not so good.

The June 28 outing against Salem-Keizer, for instance, was excellent, with Huffman going two innings with two strikeouts and just one hit. He followed four days later with a similar performance, a two-inning stretch that saw him earn a strikeout and just one hit in another win.

Three days later, the 6-foot-2 Huffman couldn't get out of a jam in a game against Boise and left the mound with two runs given up and no outs.

The point being, Huffman's introduction to the minor leagues is what most eager-eyed rookies face: a cup of success tabled along a teaspoon of increased pressure dealing with better competition. That Huffman is doing this 2,700 miles away from home, though, is all the more compelling.

The fateful call

He received the call in a Buffalo Wild Wings. At the time, Huffman was feeling a bit off, as if a kinetic energy was displaced around the room.

But as he received the best phone call of his life from his then-adviser Mitch Rigsby — since Huffman was a rising senior at JMU, there was still an outside shot he would go back to school the next season, which is why he didn't sign with an agent — the mood picked up significantly. He was drafted.

"I was just really happy," Huffman said, picked just a year after Spotswood High School's Austin Nicely went in the 10th round of the 2013 draft by the Houston Astros. "I was kind of having a down day at the time, I guess. I'm not sure why. But it turned around pretty much after that phone call."

Huffman became just the second player from Fort Defiance ever to get drafted, following Dell Curry, who was picked, coincidentally, in the 14th round of the 1985 draft by the Baltimore Orioles — Curry was No. 359; Huffman was No. 417.

Huffman packed up his bags and flew out to San Diego three days later, signing a four-year, non-guaranteed contract on June 12. He received a signing bonus, though declined to specify for how much. Seven days later, he played in his first game with Eugene.

"Chris created this opportunity because he's a guy who wants to get better every day," said Huffman's former Valley Baseball League coach George Laase. "He shows up at the ballpark and wants to learn. He's not someone who comes in and puts the headphones on and zones out. He asks a million questions."

The decision to sign with San Diego was one Huffman put much thought into, he said, considering he had three semesters left at JMU before graduation.

Within his contract included a clause that said Major League Baseball would pay for the rest of his schooling when that were to occur again.

It's an option, JMU head baseball coach Spanky McFarland said, that is often hard to pass up. He said in 17 years of service with the Dukes, no player drafted that high has ever said no.

"It's never happened," McFarland said. "They've all signed. ...Why wouldn't you? You're on a full ride by then and to finish up your last year doesn't cost you a thing. Plus, you're making money."

Pressures mounting

Now comes the hard part, a process that every prospective Major League player goes through. Huffman begins the stages of working through the San Diego Padres player pool.

It's an idea that Huffman is realistic about.

"I thought about, the question of, 'What if I don't pan out or what if I don't perform?'" he said. "But I just kind of ignore those thoughts and I just try to get better every day and do the best that I can."

At every level of baseball, from high school to college to summer league, managers have spoke highly of Huffman's competitiveness.

"He doesn't like to lose," McFarland said.

It could ultimately serve him well as he tries to develop within a crowded system. The Eugene Emeralds currently have 20 pitchers in their rotation.

"He's got competitive drive, that edginess that most competitors have," said Huffman's high school coach, Vic Spotts, a 29-year veteran at Fort. "Sometimes it's not always the best thing, but I think you need that to be a successful competitor. You have to have that edginess. And I believe he has that. I believe he has the talent."

Huffman was a three-year starter at Fort. He played shortstop, hit in the three-hole and helped the Indians win a regional championship in his junior campaign and a district championship in his senior season. He went to JMU, where he first was a member of the bullpen, then a closer, then a starter with the Dukes this spring.

He led the Dukes in wins (5), innings pitched (91), strikeouts (69) and games started (15). With a two- and four-seam fastball in the low 90s, as well as a slider, curve and changeup, Huffman had an project-worthy resume.

Experience as a closer. Check. The mentality to become a starter. Check.

In summer league ball, he balanced his time between the Valley's Staunton Braves and the Cape Cod's Wareham (Massachusetts), where he won a championship with the Gatemen following his freshman season with the Dukes.

"To see him mature, from his freshman year when he was here, to getting drafted, it was really special because you don't get to see that," Laase said.

"Some of these players don't see the big picture until their senior year. And Chris, he made a huge jump from freshman to sophomore years."

At Eugene, the road will be longer, but at least it's early in the process. Beyond the short-season Class A Emeralds, Huffman likely will need to see time at Class A Fort Wayne (Indiana) and Advanced-A Lake Elsinore (California) before he can get a shot at Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso.

If he's fortunate enough, he'll see the light of day with San Diego, which last won a National League pennant in 1998, at Petco Park.

At Eugene, Huffman has his first look at the road life. Living arrangements include Huffman being put up in a hotel with a teammate near the stadium, while road trips with charter buses are frequent.

The day is organized from top to bottom. He gets up around 9 a.m. every day, receives treatment in the training room for the next hour, then stretches with the team before long toss. He may follow with live rounds in the bullpen before lunch, then might wait two hours until game days at the stadium — which happens to be pretty sweet facility, recently built in 2010; it also is the home to the University of Oregon baseball team.

"College has prepared me for this," Huffman said. "Being on the road a lot, that's helped me make the transition of just being in a hotel."

Spotts says he believes in Huffman's ability to manage resources around him well.

"I like to think, for the most part, he can get through that experience with his own gumption and grit," Spotts said.

"I think he can say to himself, 'I can deal with it and stay on an even keel on my own.' That's what we preach to our kids at Fort. Don't live too high or low. Live in the middle."

One day at a time

With just a few months in Eugene before the regular season ends in September, Huffman said he's using his first weeks in professional baseball as building blocks for the rest of his career.

"I would just like to end the season strong and keep trying to take in what our coaches tell us and get better every day," he said.

At the professional level, he says, it's about focus. As he's learned early on, every pitch counts.

"It's just a lot more of just staying focused and working one pitch at a time," he said. "Being able to locate all your pitches, all the time."